Planting Trust

Hiking in North Carolina

So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.

1 Corinthians 3.7

We can do all the planning, planting, urging, and prep work, but nothing is going to come to fruition that God does not want. How cruel is God, then, to hinder us from something we try to obtain? Why should we follow God if He takes those seedlings away? Or doesn't allow something to grow? We live in a culture where we are told we deserve so-and-so to happen. We have earned it, with all our toil and trouble, so we are to believe.

May I bring the not-so-gentle reminder that God is only taking away that which we never deserved or had. Everything we have is a gift, which we did nothing to earn. Thankfully, the grace we are given is not something we can earn more of or lose. If we look at this world from the perspective that this is a training ground, we see that it is not so bad. But if we expect all our aspirations to come true in this broken place and that we deserve certain things to happen, we will be severely disappointed. As C.S. Lewis writes, "I am beginning to find out that what people call the cruel doctrines are really the kindest ones in the long run. I used to think it was a "cruel" doctrine to say that troubles and sorrows were "punishments." But I find in practice that when you are in trouble, the moment you regard it as a "punishment" it becomes easier to bear...Imagine a set of people all living in the same building. Half of them think it is a hotel, the other half think it is a prison. Those who think it a hotel might regard it as quite intolerable, and those who thought it was a prison might decide that it was really surprisingly comfortable."

So why, then, should we trust in God, who may or may not fulfill all our hopes, dreams, and wants? Since He is omnipresent, omniscient, creator of the universe, painter of our sky, and knows how many eyelashes I have, I'd say with all my heart and soul that He knows what is best for each of us. That's how I can trust.